It is Centrelink that gives the pension so it will be Centrelink (with the help of ATO) tracking down your overseas assets. The ATO has been working hard in the last couple of years hunting overseas hidden assets. These PRCs and Honkies don't declare them otherwise they will be ineligible for the aged-pension. These people have already planned hiding these overseas assets a long time back before they retire. I had a Honkie female colleague tell me in 1994 (she is about 15 years older than me) not to buy assets in Aust as you will not qualify for the Australian pension when you get older. Imagine these people had already planned for it since they were much younger. I see her in Chinatown all the time and she keeps bragging she has 2 properties in HK giving her HK$200k/yr rental and she still gets the full pension (she goes back to HK 3-4 times a year). It is very hard for Centrelink/ATO to trace your foreign income unless you declare it voluntarily.
What i have outlined is what i know personally - the amount of rort that goes on in the Aust welfare system is so huge that there is a general consensus that if you can rort but do not, then you are being stupid. Most of those that rort are usually migrants though (Italians, Greeks, PRCs, Hongkies) - the local Aussies a bit better but they still do rort except they dare not do it too excessively. Migrants will go all the way rorting the system - after all the penalty after getting caught is you just need to give back what you have taken and usually doesn't end up being convicted.

Thanks for letting me know that Centrelink and ATO are together in the same office - i have always thought that they were separate entities. I have never been to a Centrelink office as i have never needed any welfare assistance.

You are being too sensitive.   

A lot of people know about Centrelink through their friends and not neccessarily through personal experience - like me for instance, i learn about different types of welfare payments through friends and relatives. Anyway, there is no more shame in receiving welfare benefits anymore. On the contrary, people are now bragging that they are so smart and finding loopholes in getting benefits...

As to retiring in msia, as I get older, I realise the best place to retire is where your children are....while we are fit and healthy, it probably doesn't matter too much, and earning/saving in AUD and spending MYR is an excellent idea.... but as age, illnesses, disability creeps up, family becomes important....

All my children are in Oz, so I have to look far into the future and have the option open....

....and unlike the USA IRS, the ATO is not very aggressive in collecting the worldwide income and assets information of their residents....

This is what i have observed with all my older Msian retiree friends in Sydney - they want to be around their children and grandchildren. They say i am so stupid to go back to KL to retire because they would never go back to Msia to retire as their children are mostly in Sydney.

Two years ago (during my retirement planning), i thought i will be pretty comfortable retiring in KL when i retire with what i have. Now i am getting 'cold feet' as i get nearer to my last retirement day which is what i meant by having pre-retirement blues. In my mind, I always concluded i won't have enough to retire on if i retire too early - i can easily add a few hundred dollars (Aussie) to my bottom line by working an extra 3 years due to the compounding effect (provided there is no sharemarket crash). In Sydney, retiring at 58 is a luxury as cost of living is very high and this makes people around me all work till at least 65-67. My friends and relatives are also all advising me to continue working for another few more years at least. This is causing a huge dilemma for me!! I observe myself and can see GREED all written over my body.

Intrinsic is the fear that your savings may not be enough, as you get old, sick, in view of escalating costs.... perhaps not a big issue in Oz, due to Medicare, but very much so in Msia....

For some, it's not the money, but the problem with retirement itself, a major life changing event, which is often negative for many people....what are you going to do with all these "free" time?....

Not greed lah.....we are squirrels....just cannot stop storing for winter.....lol

Thanks, have been trying, directly, through recruiters and through newly met acquaintances working in NAB/ANZ etc but still no bites so far.

Actually with only 1 year FSI experience vs 15+ years in services I'm not really focusing much on banks, looking more at the services market but good point about the regional banks, will try and give them a shot as well.

actually now is not a good time for NAB & Telstra .... many layoffs 

i have friends owned few property here in Malaysia who moved to Aussie with PR.
to my understanding, when u become citizen then only u declare it.

Could be reason why many couples only turn 1 of their PR to citizen while their other half(spouse) remain Australian PR, so they don't get taxed.

Engineering is a pro rata profession now....

You want guaranteed job prospects....do nursing....always in demand....lol

Hey guys, just wanted to ask. Anyone have any contacts in the eductaion sector? Higher education/ vocational?

I'm at a crossroads whether to give up my PR or not. I have till September 2020 to decide.

I'll be honest, I've been putting it off for some time due to monetary commitments here, but its getting worse and worse and I can barely save money to sustain myself for a months of unemployment.

Its pathetic and I'm at an emotional crossroads whereby I'd be open to take ANY job that comes my, even if it is minimum wage in Aus, just to go and keep my PR.

My main industry is education, but the 2 interviews I've had fell through and I'm begining to lose hope. Agaian, anything, in either WA/ VIC 9 easier to just bunk in with friends/ family temporarily), that hels, I am game.

Sorry for the long rant. Figured I may as well ask, as I have nothing to lose other than giving up my PR (which is kind of silly and ppl have been advising me against it, after having done it themselves).

Thank you.

Thanks. Will PM you.

Unless you have health insurance extras which covers dental and eye, why would you want to do your dental checkup and glasses in Aust? I get a dental checkup in Sydney (fluoride treatment and cleaning) every 8-10 mths before which costs me A$240 at my workplace - i do this exact thing in Bangsar Baru (KL) where i stay for rm140. Crazy!! My dentist (late thirties in age) in Bangsar graduated from Adelaide.

High labour costs in Aust will kill this country!! Not only is Aust uncompetitive (in costs), with current ecological change, we may be starting to see a very bleak future for future generations.

Talking about dentists, i had a fellow Uni mate who graduated with me in 1983. He is originally from Penang and has 3 surgeries (in different suburbs). He has so many properties in Sydney (around the Bexley area) - i estimate he is probably worth about A$9mil. I don't think he came from a rich family. He is so busy and he even works on Sundays. He used to tell us if we go to him, he will maximise our claims (on our private health insurance) and we won't need to pay a cent.

Due to his success in his career, he even forced his kids to study Dentistry - he paid for them as full-fee students (his kids marks were a little off the cutoff point). You can imagine how good the money must be for the father to be willing to pay full-fee. Also, they live in Sydney and the kids got the offers in Adelaide Uni so the kids got to rent a place in Adelaide!

My dad tried to get me into a Msian uni to study business and eventually be a businessman. Pretty happy my mum fought to let me choose my own degree to study for. I'd be quite a crap doctor/dentist if I were forced into it. Might be different if I had top education and life growing up though.

Don't have kids but I'd like to think I'd let them pick whatever they want to do as long as they'll be able to earn enough to be happy in life (if I have any).
In my opinion, this is probably over-hyped due to the 'climate crisis' activist pushing for it. Those who took up this banner early on have reaped the benefits by instilling fear into people & governments to go with renewable energy hype. Unless there's significant progress in technology to harness non-consistent power supply - nuclear energy is the probably the way to go.

It's probably good money for first world/developed countries a while as long as the activist keep doing their stuff. The expected salary seem to be around 2k/week, which is nothing to scoff at.

Or there's also always software engineering and branching out into cybersecurity, as the demand is always available due to technological improvements.

To each his own, and good luck to your son. It'll be worrying about how much crap to clean, feeding and screaming to deal with until they can DIY all of that if I do get any. Is it normal for them to stay with family still or are the expectations that they earn their own pocket money & rent a place somewhere else?